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It's Fun to Play the Piano ... Please Pass It On!

It's here! In fact, it has been here for almost three hours now. I tried to do some more work and finish my task, but I couldn't resist and had to play! Apologies for the excessive light in the pictures. My apartment is that sunny.

Beautiful, just beautiful. Why would you even try to do any work with that sat there?!

Had some trouble falling asleep, for sure! I got up at 7 and tried very hard to concentrate on my work while the minutes crept slowly by. The delivery company said they'd be there "between 12 and 3." I was just preparing lunch when the door bell rang. Woohoo!

Now I just feel a little guilty for not doing as much work as I should

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David Lanz - Dark HorseYiruma - River Flows In You

Allard - it's beautiful. What kind of piano is it? Maybe its in your pic but I was not able to see. Also how long is it?

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Solo - Rachmaninoff Elegie Op 3 #1, Schumann Op 12 Warum, Grillen and a few short pieces by various composersCollaboration - Concerto in C for Oboe and orchestra attributed to Haydn edited by Evelyn Rosewell and some duets

It's a 152cm Perzina. Originally a German brand, though the factory is in China now and it's owned by the Dutch company I bought from. I think it sounds really good. Going to take some getting used to the sound volume though. Even such a small grand fills up the room with music (and possibly my neighbours' rooms as well).

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David Lanz - Dark HorseYiruma - River Flows In You

I've been watching this thread for a couple of days and it seems there's a critic lurking? Any who, I just played Eine Kleine Nachtmusik without an error! This maybe the piece I play at Spring Recital!!

Well done Warlock! I want to learn that too soon... I've just played the blues piece in Alfred's!!! I thought it was way too hard yet just had a go and played it with BHT! I am even getting the rhythm and timing ok as well as I just checked on a you tube video. I find some of the chord changes tricky- not sure if that is my small hands or wrong fingering- will work on that. My teacher can't make it tomorrow so next lesson is Friday next week. Can't wait to show him I can play it ( of course not perfectly...) as I told him I thought it was too hard for me last lesson- though he thought I'd do it...

Allard! Next to the pic of Mr. Super-Hunky in his speedo, this is the sexiest thing I've seen on PW for a while! What a beauty. I can well believe you couldn't focus on work today!

SwissMS - I'm off to the Piano Bar to see what you've done!

_________________________ XVIII-XXXVISometimes I try to progress faster than I am ready for.SwissMsFollow your teacher's instructions and practice wisely/much, and you'll soon wonder how you ever found it hard. BobPicklePerformance anxiety: make it part of your daily routine and deal with it...Cope! zrtf90

EdwardianPiano - Eine Kleine Nachtmusik is a very nice piece. I'm gonna polish it up for the upcoming recitals. Good Luck.

Yes it is. I've got a couple of "easy" versions of it in my music folder from 8notes. I played the blues again- it's the stretch to d flat that is a little struggle. I bet I've got the wrong fingers on the keys knowing me!

Thanks for the well-wishes about my knee... Fortunately, it seems to be recovering well.

It possibly a violation to post two achievements in the same week, but I earned two more tips tonight. One went to me, but then the professional guitarist showed up and set up a tip jar. While I was playing my last piece--I had to vacate to allow the guitarist to set up--someone dropped a tip in the jar, thanking me for the ragtime playing.

I paid it forward. The guitarist in question reminds me so much of my grandfather's playing... I just considered it my tip to the guitarist in remembrance of my grandfather, my biggest fan.

AllardWOW! How cool is that! She's beautiful. Nothing like the romance with a new piano...caressing the keys...dreaming about it and waking up to its potential. I hope it brings you hours of pleasure (well there will be the occasional spat and disconnect but that's relationships)

Whizbang- there are no limits on achievements- heck, you might think you've had "the" AOTW on Monday,but then wow, look what happens on Wednesday! Congratulations on your tips - and that was nice of you to pass it on to the guitarist!

Allard, did you get any work done today?

My AotDay was that I actually made it to the piano. Woke up in the middle of the night with a severe migraine which pretty much wiped me out for the whole day.bah.

Had a fun moment today - not really an achievement, but interesting. My new Jazz Blues and Rags book came with a CD, and as I wasn't in the mood to play this afternoon I decided to just listen to the CD and read the music. My hubby doesn't read music, but I invited him to sit on the sofa with me and I pointed with my finger to show him where we were in the pieces - he got a real kick out of it. We both liked ALL the pieces in the book - (I have often found that in these 8-11 piece books there are often 3-4 I'm not very keen on). I asked him which one he would like to have me learn first, and he picked one called "Slippin' Round". I thought that was quite funny as my last piece was "Sneakin' Round" .

_________________________ XVIII-XXXVISometimes I try to progress faster than I am ready for.SwissMsFollow your teacher's instructions and practice wisely/much, and you'll soon wonder how you ever found it hard. BobPicklePerformance anxiety: make it part of your daily routine and deal with it...Cope! zrtf90

. My new Jazz Blues and Rags book came with a CD, and as I wasn't in the mood to play this afternoon I decided to just listen to the CD and read the music.

I'm keen to hear you perform and post, perhaps in the Piano Bar, any good rags you learn from the series. So often I see pianists ask on forums if there are any good introductory rags, but, as many piano students of Joplin's day found, classic rags are fairly challenging. I'd love to be able to recommend good alternatives.

I only worked at home yesterday because the piano would be delivered. I usually work from the office. Fortunately, or I would have played all day!

Or well, probably. It lost tune quite a bit already and is a lot less pleasant to listen to than it was in the showroom. There are also a few strings not listening well to the damper. Got a higher D ringing most of the time. I don't know any pieces with a d flat or sharp

Is this normal for a new piano? Should I just get it tuned ASAP, or wait as the salesman said?

Quote:

Had a fun moment today - not really an achievement, but interesting. My new Jazz Blues and Rags book came with a CD, and as I wasn't in the mood to play this afternoon I decided to just listen to the CD and read the music. My hubby doesn't read music, but I invited him to sit on the sofa with me and I pointed with my finger to show him where we were in the pieces - he got a real kick out of it. We both liked ALL the pieces in the book - (I have often found that in these 8-11 piece books there are often 3-4 I'm not very keen on). I asked him which one he would like to have me learn first, and he picked one called "Slippin' Round". I thought that was quite funny as my last piece was "Sneakin' Round" .

You can make your own themed recital soon! Just got to find Messin' Round and, if you feel really hip, Jumpin' Round.

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David Lanz - Dark HorseYiruma - River Flows In You

It is very common for your new piano to go out of tune and for other little quirks to show up. Pianos can take a while to settle down and get used to the conditions in their new home.

In the piano forum, where they discuss this stuff all the time, it seems like the consensus is you should wait at least a few weeks and maybe as much as a month before you get the tuner in. Thats not to say there couldn't be issues that you want to call the dealer or transport company about. If you do tune it right away, there's a good chance it might need it again in a month or two.

What you describe sounds like standard issues related to settling in to its new home to me.

cas, lol about the "barocque". I just thought that's how you spell it in Italian! The Heller piece -- "Old Romance"? If so, can't wait to hear you play it. It can be kind of haunting. If you're interested in trying out some Debussy, you might look at his "Reverie". I played that for my first ABF recital, and it wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be. You might be ready for that sooner than you think.

Allard -- woohoo! Who cares if you're poor if you've got something like that to play? Looks beautiful in its new home. About the sun on the piano, I think it's recommended to keep in out of direct sunlight. Maybe consider shades, if you need to?

jaredm2012, I'm just the opposite -- my favorite style is the Classical era music. Others can be nice, but nothing else quite compares for me.

warlock -- sounds like a great achievement on Eine Kleine Nachtmusik. What version/transcription are you playing?

SwissMS -- jealous about the two lessons a week! What a fun way to make use of those extra retirement hours.

Yikes. This week out of nowhere, I've started talking to myself while at the piano. I find myself commenting (out loud) as I practice: "No; much too fast." "That didn't work." "Now that's the way to do it!". Is that an AOTW or Confession OTW?

Going to a concert on Sunday! Cleveland Orchestra will be playing two matchless pieces: Mozart's G minor symphony and Dvorak's New World. Very excited.

I thought I'd post some pictures of *my* new piano here today. It was delivered yesterday, which is not really an achievement on my part — more so on the part of the movers, who had to hoist it up and over way too many construction site-related obstacles to get it into my apartment. But hey, if Allard gets to brag on the AOTW thread, then so do I .

Pictures wouldn't show much at this point, though. The piano is still tightly packed in shipping foam and blankets, because, despite having promised me the opposite many times over the past week or so, the builders still aren't done with my apartment. There's some hope that they might finish and be out of there by tonight, but I'm not holding my breath.

One of the issues is that there is currently no central heating. It was two degrees Celsius outside yesterday (a.k.a., nearly freezing), and barely any warmer inside. I could see my own breath. I played the piano for a little while (I think it sounds wonderful, by the way, especially considering its 5'1" length, but even regardless of that), but then had to stop when my fingers would no longer cooperate because of the cold.

I'm worried that I'm doing major damage to the piano right now, but I don't really have a choice anymore. I have to move by Wednesday, as my old apartment has been let to a new tenant. And the piano could either be moved now, or stored another month at cost.

Yikes. This week out of nowhere, I've started talking to myself while at the piano. I find myself commenting (out loud) as I practice: "No; much too fast." "That didn't work." "Now that's the way to do it!". Is that an AOTW or Confession OTW?

Hah! I do the same thing when I am really working on something. I am my piano teacher in my head. Imagine what I must sound like sitting there with my headphones (silent mode) talking to myself. My poor husband

Saranoya - I hope the heat comes on tonight! You must be going crazy staring at your still crated piano! You can see it, but you cannot play it.

Getting your new piano delivered may not be an achievement, but it sure is exciting! I'm not sure I understand the situation, Saranoya. Are you about to move to a new apartment, but the piano got delivered to the old one? Or to the new that's not ready yet? Either way, painful to not be able to play :s

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David Lanz - Dark HorseYiruma - River Flows In You

Getting your new piano delivered may not be an achievement, but it sure is exciting! I'm not sure I understand the situation, Saranoya. Are you about to move to a new apartment, but the piano got delivered to the old one? Or to the new that's not ready yet? Either way, painful to not be able to play :s

The new apartment is not ready yet. ETA: and yes, the piano was delivered there, because I'd have had no room for it at my old place, and anyway, I don't live there anymore.

It was all supposed to be ready in August, originally. Then that got pushed to September, which got pushed to November, which got pushed to mid-December (I already had help lined up to move the week after Christmas). And then it got pushed again, to "January 31, definitely."

I told my current landlord I was moving out at the end of January when they gave me that date (mid-December), at which point he started looking for a new tenant. He found the new tenant. I had to beg that guy on both knees to please give me a little more time. He gave me one more week. Then I moved all of my worldly possessions to the floor above my new apartment (which is ready except for the elevator, so I can't live there even temporarily because I'm a wheelchair user), and myself into a hostel. I still have keys to my old building, as the landlord will be out of town until Wednesday and just hasn't collected them yet, so some of my things are now in the basement there (warm and dry). But time is running out on that, too.

Meanwhile, I do in fact now have a key to my new apartment (that too is a very recent development: I got it yesterday), but the new apartment has no heating, no running water, no kitchen, and an unfinished bathroom. It also only has electricity because, at my insistence, some construction workers hot-wired my apartment directly to their Diesel generator yesterday (we were hanging, and trying to test, some light fixtures).

Rocket88 – I haven’t made a lot of progress with the blues, but for good reasons, my new (well, now new-ish) teacher has me really working on being a lot more precise with technique and aside from piano, my work has really picked up – I don’t have time to play as much as I did a while back and I’ve got to meet the challenges my teacher assigns. Not because he’s my boss, but because I can see exactly what is not right about my playing and I want to get those things sorted out. My new book does have some blues- obviously not improvisation, but still a bit of a work out. I’m just not doing much with the improv book.

EddieP- thanks- head is fine today!

Whizbang – I will probably play one of these pieces in the next recital ---or I may even venture into the Piano Bar – but even before doing so, I CAN tell you that these books are really approachable for beginner, early intermediate and so on – I have book 1 of Martha Meirs Jazz Blues and Rags (you can hear my rag in the ABF recital index from Nov 2011

ABF RECITAL INDEX -CASINITALY it is “Ragtim-Do-Si-Do” Book two is quite a leap forward, but there is enough variety in the pieces that if I start with the simple ones, in a few months or so I believe I’ll be able to manage the harder ones. It is both at and a bit above what I can do right now – particularly in terms of speed for the very last piece! Another book that could be interesting for you is on this page – “First Ragtime Pieces” by Dennis AlexanderDENNIS ALEXANDER BOOKS

I don’t have this book, but I do have 2 or 3 of his books and I really like them a lot.

Allard – Jim is right – it is perfectly normal for your piano to wobble out of tune a bit after having been moved. He’s also right about the heat of the sun having an effect on the piano. How hot does it get in your room? Shades may become very important indeed.Maybe by the time I finish this new book of music I’ll be ready to compose my own blues or rag of “Messin’ Round” or “Jumpin’ Round !”

MaryBee, yes it is Old Romance I’ve started ! I’m a bit less intimidated now that I’ve actually tried getting through it. I am listening to your Debussy right now – wow, that’s very pretty. Sounds like it would be great for me for improving my left hand fluidity. Thanks for the suggestion! Interesting that you’ve started talking to yourself at the piano. I think I did that from the very beginning of my playing! Lol…..I suspect it is a common enough trait. I’m only surprised it is new for you! The concert sounds like it should be wonderful. When I was in high school our concert band played Dvorak’s New World Symphony. I fell in love with it.

Saranoya – wow. What a mess you are having to deal with! The delays in getting your apartment ready made me wonder if you actually lived here in Italy where scheduling seems, often, very much an “option”. I hope and pray that you get everything settled asap so you can unwind and make beautiful music with your new piano!

SwissMS - I had a listen to your pieces in the Piano Bar (I didn't reply there because I haven't listened to anyone else's stuff!)... I really liked your both the pieces - and it was interesting to see that the jazz piece was another Dennis Alexander! Quite a change from your Bach work - but just as delightful!

_________________________ XVIII-XXXVISometimes I try to progress faster than I am ready for.SwissMsFollow your teacher's instructions and practice wisely/much, and you'll soon wonder how you ever found it hard. BobPicklePerformance anxiety: make it part of your daily routine and deal with it...Cope! zrtf90

MaryBee - I started with scaled down version in the Faber's Piano Adventures Book 1. Then I downloaded the "Easy" one from 8notes.com. Nothing's "easy" just starting out but that's the level it's given!!

My achievement - not so much. I'm now listening to the recital finally. Impressed with high quality of the playing. This is indeed a special community.

Had a discussion with my teacher yesterday. She was happy that I performed at my best, understanding still much to be improved. The only change I made post ABF recording was the beginning dynamic to P in my left hand and brought up the tempo of the middle section to match the rest of the piece. I'm happy it worked.

I'm further refining the middle section so that I can play the middle section repeat differently, 1st time make the right hand melody sing sensitively with overall reduced volume and 2nd time bring out the first note of the triplets as with the melody.

I love the mournful sound following after the muted melody (when I am successful in achieving it). I feel like this Brahmes piece is his imaginary duet with Clara Schumann . Melodies, counter melodies woven throughout the piece. I hear sorrowful longing, momentary bliss never ceasing love for Clara. In particular section, I even identified the chord where Brahms may be embracing Clara in his mind. If its current age, I'm sure Brahmes and Clara could have had a different chapter in life, especially after Mr. Schumann's death. Alas, she was too much of a lady!

Before I go off further, my goal for the March performance is to bring out the second repeat.

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Solo - Rachmaninoff Elegie Op 3 #1, Schumann Op 12 Warum, Grillen and a few short pieces by various composersCollaboration - Concerto in C for Oboe and orchestra attributed to Haydn edited by Evelyn Rosewell and some duets

Improvising! Very very basic improvisation, but I actually made some musical noises without it having been dreamed up (and written down) by someone else, which I've never had any clue how to do previously. It's quite addictive!

Thanks to Bill Hilton:

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"...when you do practice properly, it seems to take no time at all. Just do it right five times or so, and then stop." -- JimF